Situational Leadership Theory Of Leadership Essay

The word leadership has a lot of meanings, but its meaning is unique to the person who is giving the definition. Leadership is the ability to guide, direct, and motivate others to accomplish a mission or task. It is the ability to make subordinates see their own potential in their abilities and supervisors recognize and respect it. Leaders are entrusted with building up those they lead to ensure the individual can one day assume the responsibility of leading others. It is for this reason that the situational approach style of leadership best describes my leadership style.

Leadership has gained the attention of researches across the world there are several terms defining the word Leadership. There is not a set definition of the word leadership it has been changed over the years as the world’s views of leadership have changed. There are numerous leadership theories that studied the different traits or behavior of a leader. Situational Approach is a widely used theory to help leader be effective in different situations. This approach has been revised several times and has been implemented in leadership courses. Leader must be flexible when using the situational approach. The needs of the followers in situations are going to determine how the leader will take their course

Situational leadership theory is when a leader adapt’s to the situation and the management styles to the behavioral needs of the individual or group. Trait approach leadership gives more credence to the qualities and traits that people are born with that make them natural born leaders.

Leaders have a “the ability to influence a group toward the achievement of a vision or set of goals” (Robbins & Judge, 2007, p. 402). In the past leaders have been described by certain traits or characteristics. These traits can help an organization identify potential candidates who may be strong leaders. Later behavior approaches of leaders were identified that could be taught. In short, leaders could be made. Situations have an impact on which leader behaviors will be most effect at any given time. Several contingency theories have been formulated over the years to identify how situations influence leadership behavior. Each style has strengths and

3) Contingency approach to leadership-this theory refers to the group atmosphere and to the degree of confidence, loyalty, and attraction the followers feel about their leader. If certain favourable situations occur then there has been a positive relationship between the followers and the leader which means that the task was clearly defined and there is a clear leader position power.

This paper will address why situational leadership theory is useful and relevant in developing an effective leadership culture. In addition, it will also discuss the three theories of situational leadership and what is considered to be the strengths and weaknesses of each theory when leading staff in the organizational environment.

The contingency theory of leadership works to predict which style is best in which circumstance, because what may work in one situation, may not work in another. Imagine that as a CEO, Helena always applied a democratic based leadership style, but one day the company was faced with a dilemma that she had to address immediately. Without the ability to consult her employees, Helena has to make a decision, and this will affect the entire company. This would be an example of the contingency theory of leadership, being able to change ones leadership style to suite the situation.

The very essence of this theory is the leaders should change their decisions and responses according to the situation. This means that one common approach is not ideal for all situations. Now a day the management follows Current leadership theories. Those are interactional theory and transformational theory. Interactional theory relay upon the decision making ability of the leader and the situation of the case. The People in itself are complex in nature and their motives are changing from time to time. The leadership exchange or delegation of authority and responsibility involves a lot of variables such as personality, perceptions, and the skills and abilities of leader and the employee, as well as the probable changes in a specific situation. In Transformational leadership, it raises each person to a greater level of morality and motivation. The basic of this theory is Vision and environment. What the Transformational leaders do is to forecast the path of the upcoming events and guide others to attain this with a greater standard of performance.

     The situational leadership model is based on certain assumptions. One of these assumptions is that there are different levels (or situations) in which a leadership style is played out. In the same way that there are four different levels of readiness on the part of staff or “followers”, there are also four leadership styles. On the whole it is the level that the followers are to be found that is most important element in the equation when a leadership style is seen to be to be the appropriate style and is chosen from among four possible styles. According to this idea leaders can choose to lead in

The contents and assignment in this course has helped me understand the various theories of leadership and how different leadership styles can have a negative or positive effect on followers and organizations. The leadership theories helped me understand the concept of leadership better because it educates me on the different leadership options that are available. Leadership and followership is not based on specific characteristics. Leaders must draw from things and approaches to find the right style. A follower’s attitude determines the way a leader leads. According to Johnson (2011) “Being a good follower means ensuring your boss is supported, but only if he is making optimum decisions”.

Situational Leadership is also called as Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership Theory. Paul Hersey the author of "Situational Leader" and Ken Blanchard the author of " The One Minute Manager" are the one who introduced this theory (Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership Theory, 2010-2015). The principle behind this theory is that every theory is not perfect in itself and the effectiveness of the theory is determined by the situation (Kreitner, 2013, p. 472). One of the important lesson that I have learned till this day is no one can be prepared for the upcoming problems. Problems may have same nature but may be different in the way it has to be solved. For instance: A Leader may motivate an employee by increasing salary but the same tactics may not work for another employee. Another employee may be seeking challenging job which may influence him/her to

Leadership is a term on which no one can develop a mutual consensus as it carries a different meaning for ach individual. Some people may consider a person as their leader who is capable of taking them away from hardships, some people may consider the one as their leader who is quite charismatic and can show them dreams of a bright future or some people may consider that man as a leader who can make them progress by devising wise strategies for them etc. There is, somehow, something very common in all the perspectives that are the philosophy behind the definition, which is related to choosing a best of the best person as their leader. Nobody wants to have a person as his leader who doesn’t have knowledge of the needs and aspirations of his

The situational leadership model was developed by two authors, Ken Blanchard, and Paul Hersey in the year 1969. These authors based this model on the concept that leadership should adapt to different management practices and approaches to fit different situations and surpass any diversity of their encounters (Lussier & Achua, 2010). In particular, this model provides guidance on how to analyze a situation, choose effaceable strategies and adopt the most appropriate leadership style. Apparently, the two developers of the model researched and found that, given some case, leadership may fail to accomplish some goals due to adopting single

It has been a main factor in development and training programs (Hersey et al., 2001). Situational leadership theory is based on how people respond to working and being led in groups.

Contingency Theories:- Stoelhorst and Peter (2013) said that this leadership theory mainly focus on particular variables which shows the relation with the environment. This will indicates about what kind of leadership will be the most effective? This theory simply states that no theory is universal perfect but the implement of theories depends on the variability, it also